Instrument clusters are not certified for fuel mileage. In fact, some of them are way off.
My car does count total amount of fuel burned since the last OLM reset, but even that isn't "certified."
Oil life monitor and percentages
- Thread starter AnarchyX
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My car does count total amount of fuel burned since the last OLM reset, but even that isn't "certified."
When I ran my 3.7L Ford (2012) down almost all the way and tested, it was OK.
In the sense that it was on the ragged edge of failure. Almost no margin of error. (Used Motorcraft SemiSynthetic and MC filter.)
After that I changed at 25% or switched to synthetic EP oil.
The Ford IOLM is heavily influenced by inactivity. It also rewards you for a few days for taking long trips.
Yeah but it’s a Ford
I have seen police cars that said "Calibrated speedometer" but that was a long time ago. It was an analog speedo with 0-1XX laid out horizontally.
We have 2 CRV'S, after a long history with Honda, I've come to understand that the MM is an algorithm, most based on averages, cycles, time, miles & temperature. It has nothing that relates to or measures actual oil condition. I'm probably overly pro-active, but I actually do Blackstone Labs UOA's that DO measure oil condition. Given the CRV's 1.5t's proclivity to oil dilution and it's difficulty reaching operating temperature in cold weather, I generally follow a 4-5k change schedule. MM is usually at 30-40% at that point. My last UOA showed the oil I had been using, Mobil1 0W-20 AFE/M110A filters had 1.3% dilution and had thinned out of grade after 4100 miles of mixed driving. I've recently changed to Mobil1 0W-20 EP and will probably go to Royal Purple filters, also considering Castrol Edge EP as well, but will continue shorter change intervals and do the UOA's. Oil is cheap, engines are expensive and sooner is better than later. I trust Honda engineering but I don't see the percentages in running lubricants to their limits in a vehicle I expect to have for some years.
Yeah, I’d worry more if it was the turbo. It’s the 2.4 earth dream. I’ll do a uoa on its first diy change at around the 5k mark.
Yeah, the OLM doesn’t work for me on my 2016 Accord.
At 7500 miles the thing still reads 50% oil life left. Granted in am all rural driving, 10 miles to the closed town (next town 25mi), 45-55mph speeds…but still?
At 7500 miles the thing still reads 50% oil life left. Granted in am all rural driving, 10 miles to the closed town (next town 25mi), 45-55mph speeds…but still?
Patman
Staff member
When a car maker designs their oil life monitors, they do quite a bit of testing, so you know that they've tested the condition of the oil thoroughly under varying conditions and have built in a "safety net" as well. So when it actually counts down to zero, that doesn't mean that the oil is now unusable. I've gone a few thousand miles "below zero" on the oil life monitors in various cars I have owned and have gotten oil analysis results that have shown the oil to still be in good shape. So I have no worries about my engines if I wait until zero to change my oil.
I still take this with a grain of salt. According to my Blackstone Labs UOA's on my 19 Civic, changed at 5k intervals when the MM was showing 30%, I could have gone longer. But when the MM shows 50% at 4100miles and the UOA shows 1.3% oil/fuel dilution and the 0W-20 oil SUS & cSt viscosity lower than spec, I'm less likely to completely rely on it. The 1.5t in the CRV has proven to be somewhat hard on oil. I've changed from Mobil1 0W-20 AFE to 0W-20 EP and will continue to check at about 4k. The MM is an algorithm that evaluates averages, estimates oil life. A UOA tests actual oil condition, I trust that more.
Do you mean out of spec for the oil used or out of range for the viscosity used?
The fuel thinned the viscosity below the 0W-20 spec.
.SUS Viscosity @ 212f 44.5, values should be 46-57
cSt Viscosity @ 100c 5.56, values should be 6.0-9.7
Fuel % 1.3, values should be <2.0. (Within allowable range, but with MM @50%, concerning) With previous Honda's using this oil, M1 0W-20 AFE, fuel dilution was never greater than .5 % changing at 5k intervals.
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The only way to help mitigate that short of fixing the problem is to use a higher grade oil.
Agreed, as Honda specifications call for an API Certified 0W-20, I'll be switching to either Mobil1 0W-20 EP or Castrol Edge EP. The engine has approximately 13,000 miles on it so rings may not have yet fully seated, in any case, the 1.5t in the CRV has had a history of fuel dilution so I'm trying to be pro-active.
How do you know that ? Has there ever been a published report from any automaker about how their algorithms were developed ?
Or were they developed in just a couple of afternoons by some software guy and added to the vehicle's features as another selling point ? Color me extremely skeptical. Until such time that the technology advances to a point where a probe is actually taking a sample and doing an oil analysis under the hood, the OLM is not much more than a glorified idiot light.
I have disabled the warnings on my vehicles. I KNOW what kind of oil is in my car and KNOW what to expect of it under the kind of driving conditions that I practice. I also change the oil according to a rather conservative mileage interval and don't want or need anything popping up on my dashboard making an assumption about the condition of the oil.
Okay I'll call you extremely skeptical and maybe more.
The GM algorithm has been described in detail as has the ones for Honda and Ford. All you have to do is search the Internet and you will find that it is far more sophisticated than an... idiot light.
Someone claiming elsewise and postulating they came about in an afternoon has his light turned off.
I'm no fan of them either. I'm sure some R&D went into them, a bit more than a few afternoons, but they can't possibly account for everything. I feel at least in my applications they're useless [proven by UOA data]. I haven't disabled them, but I wish I could opt out of the technology and save a few $$ in doing so. That money can go to a couple of UOAs to establish a good OCI, and if there's any chump change remaining it can go into the gas tank. I'm certain the average guy who trades out of a vehicle or sells it every few years will be able to maintain his vehicle well enough to offload it before he/she has problems. OTOH guys like me that keep cars forever might do better with a few UOAs and a more old school approach. OTOH a couple of UOAs can be used to establish the OLM accuracy, and if it's right follow it until the driving pattern changes. That will help the skeptic on the fence establish faith in it.
The tiny bit of increased viscosity in the same grade of oil will be nearly inconsequential in mitigating fuel dilution. Especially considering this is a Blackstone analysis and you don't know the real value of the dilution.